I posted the Presidential Debate Drinking Game rules over on FB. I noticed today I got a share...by Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson on 'Little House on the Prairie.' Yeah, she accepted my FB friends request. I fangirled) on HER timeline.

This means she actually reads the drivel I put up on FB. (Wow, she must get REALLY bored on the road.) Totally made my day. Not to mention adding a really surreal note to my standard Tuesday/Wednesday post-work LHOTP/The Waltons binge.

Yes, I come home with my employee meal (and my favorite salad is going away! *sob* Why do I always fall in love with seasonal food? I mean, besides the obvious. There's no good way to make a salad with strawberries and blueberries in the fall/winter), put on something comfy, turn on the tv, and alternately eat and crochet for a couple of hours. I'm so fucking edgy. But it helps me decompress, and that is REALLY necessary lately.

Kent's having a rough time. He's worried about money (he got dinged by the state for 2012 taxes so, goodbye, savings! I am trying really hard to keep my shit together about this, because I don't understand how you can have an accountant for a sister and consistently fuck up filing like that. And this was the money from the settlement from when I got hit by the truck, so I kind of felt like it was *my* money, ya know?). I thought that would lessen some when I got a job, but he got drunk and went on a tear this weekend about how I need to work MORE hours or get a second job.

Which would be fine, were it not for the fact that he recently gave up four hours a week so someone could stay on at the Stratford. Noble, yes...but, dude. You're not working that many more than I am, and you're not doing the grocery shopping, laundry, (most of) the cooking and dishes, and waking your ass up with coffee and your uniform laid out in the morning. I have a fucking second job. It's called YOU.

Then he's got fantasy football drama. These guys are pretty much his only friends, and TinFoil Hat Boy has turned flat out nasty and a bit threatening (frankly, I think his man bun is screwed too tight). He's hurt, and really has no one else to turn to.

Again, I'm holding my tongue about his disparaging remarks about social media. I know if I can find someone to talk to if I need to, day or night. Even if we've never met. And I truly, truly appreciate that.

In better news, soon I can decompress WITH sewing machine! I have a crappy plastic one that I bought a few years ago, but I've not used it much because it feels flimsy. Well, one of the clients at Kent's work decided I needed one of her five (!!!!) machines. He has made the mistake of talking to a number of the women about me: "Oh, yeah...my wife crochets/sews/quilts/embroiders/etcetcetc."

I think he may discover this will ultimately be his downfall. ;)

This thing is a BEAST. An old Kenmore, back when they were actually metal and weighed a bazillion pounds and could tackle ANYTHING. I hugged the case when I was it. It even has the original manual, a box of metal bobbins, needles, old spools of thread (on wooden bobbins! ) <3

I'm going to spend Sunday shifting things around in the spare room to make an official sewing nook. I've been hauling my plastic one around as needed, but Hildegarde is getting a permanent spot. Now I am REALLY regretting not scooping up tons of my patterns the last time I was rescuing stuff from Granma's house. And I wonder where all that fabric went? *sigh*

Isn't that the coolest thing? People can say all the hateful things they want to about social media, but I have gotten to connect with people whose work I love and tell them so...then *poof* they're reading what I write. It's surreal. In the best possible way.

With an accountant sister, why did he not get her help either doing the taxes, or negotiating a payment agreement with the IRS? I'm NOT an accountant, and I was able to negotiate said agreement then I didn't have the bank withhold enough taxes when we closed out my mother's retirement accounts after her death. You don't even have to talk to a live person, anymore - there's a form you can fill out online!

*sigh*

Anyway, stressed or not, drunk or not, you don't deserve to be treated like that. You need to have a sit-down and discuss how losing your settlement to his tax debt made you feel, and how his drunk rant made you feel, and that more hours/second job is going to mean him taking over the groceries/laundry/cooking/cleaning/uniform readying - and visiting you in the hospital when you fall down from exhaustion from being stretched too thing for too long.

I'm sorry - I think I got a bit ranty there myself. Disregard if I've got it wrong. Sending hugs and virtual chocolate.

Boo for Kent's meltdown. If he persists, give him one week without you doing just the stuff like being his alarm clock, laying out his uniform, and having coffee already waiting for him. Not as punishment, just to remind him how much work you do around the home just for him and that if your work hours go up, something has to go away to compensate and it sure can't be groceries, laundry, etc.

Yay for knowing you have people online you can vent to when you need to even if you don't know-know them. :) (And ping me any time if you need someone.)

And BIG YAY for big, solid sewing machine! If I were to scan the fronts of some of my patterns I'm considering rehoming, would you be interested in see if you want any of them?

I'm slow but I get there! My scanner is being a butt about things so I took group photos instead. If there are any you want closer/bigger/better/front-back pics of, just let me know. I want to say half of them haven't ever been used, even, but I won't swear to it. I thought I had more but I must have done some weeding out a few moves back that I don't remember. Anyhow, they're yours if you want them!